The company's gaming offering is likely propped up by Apple One bundle subscribers.
A recent report from The Information (paywalled) has outlined how various Apple services, including their TV+ subscription and Arcade gaming offering is costing the immensely wealthy Cupertino company billions — with not much to speak of in terms of head-turning returns.
Sure, Apple TV+ isn't hitting the same highs as Netflix in terms of pure subscriber count, but its output has always been positioned as something of a quality over quantity play. The HBO-of-yesterday approach suits me just fine — in a world of endless streaming options, and a seemingly infinite number of shows, having a more curated, quality collection of content has its appeal. I enjoyed the saccharine sweet Ted Lasso, and the recent mystery of Severance had me hooked. Anyone who didn't enjoy Mr. Milchick dancing can devour feculence.
However, this report makes clear that despite the quality, it's not cutting through to a sizeable enough audience for the amount invested. Well, I'll just say that whilst Apple scrambles around in the hotbed of TV streaming, I couldn't think of a better way for a wealthy trillion dollar company to waste some of its hordes of cash. Keep the expensive eye candy coming.
The story on the gaming side however isn't quite so straightforward. Sure, Apple can squander away its own vast reserves on some lovely, exclusive TV shows — but their gaming offering found within Apple Arcade involves the efforts of countless third-party developers and studios who want the promised leg-up that being partnered with Apple would supposedly bring.
As outlined by Neil Long, writing at mobilegamer.biz, the Apple Arcade subscription and its associated revenue is "being propped up by its inclusion in Apple's One subscription bundle". It's anecdotal, but the only reason I have an active Arcade sub is due to the Apple One bundle. With Arcade priced at $7 a month individually, it's a no brainer to get it thrown in with additional iCloud storage, TV, Music and more. It's where I play Balatro. It “likely wouldn’t be profitable” if it were just a standalone service though.
Neil shares how those working with Apple on inclusion within Arcade have faced issues with discoverability and, to my surprise, late payments, adding how some called the company "spiteful", with the partnership akin to being in an "abusive relationship". Yikes.
With such a huge audience I appreciate what Apple set out to do with Arcade — attempting to move folks away from the pay-to-win in-app gacha machines that dominate many of the 'free' to play games now found on the regular App Store.
However, it's an initiative which hasn't really found its footing.
Apple's relationship with gaming has always felt a tad feeble and perfunctory, almost as though they fell into it following the success of games on the iOS App Store (and that's despite Steve Jobs once saying he wanted the Mac to be "the best gaming platform in the world").
Arcade was a glimmer of hope for me, offering up an alternative model that was already in the pockets of millions had clear, evident appeal — the reality though is something that's truly half-baked.
Discoverability is the key barrier for me. I'd suggest ripping Arcade out of the App Store and giving it its own dedicated app — if TV can have its own why not Arcade? You could roll the Game Center stuff in too and have a one-stop destination for pushing great new releases in front of a ton of eyeballs. Apple's own Game Pass.
Instead, whenever exclusive games are announced for Arcade (such as the first new Katamari Damacy game in almost eight years), they're not seen as an exciting fresh addition, rather they're met with a collective sigh — viewed as a game locked behind a paywall and buried away within a tab on the App Store.
It doesn't have to be this way — but I'm not overly hopeful Apple have the appetite to shift the narrative and reframe how the unbeloved Arcade is seen.
